A tie goes to the veterans. That is how manager
Terry Collins
views the
competition for open jobs in the Mets’ bullpen, as he begins evaluating which
arms might belong on the Opening Day roster. LaTroy Hawkins, Pedro
Feliciano, Scott Atchison and Aaron Laffey are among the veteran relievers battling for
jobs, with Jeurys Familia, Darin Gorski and Robert Carson among the notable younger pitchers in the hunt.

This
makes sense to me. The veterans have been there before and they should be
called upon first to prove they can still deliver the kind of stats they have
in the past.

IMO,
the only youngster that stands a chance to come out of this camp with an MLB
job is LHP Robert Carson,
mainly due to how he pitched the back end of last season. Jeurys Familia still has to prove he can pound the zone, Darin Gorski needs to make the conversion to a reliever in the minors,
and the opportunities for Elvin Ramirez may
have come and gone.

Teams
don’t sign all these veterans if they have confidence in their youngsters.

Roly de Armas was his first manager. Mike Compton was the Phillies’ minor
league catching coordinator. D’Arnaud has earned a special place in both men’s
baseball hearts. “I’ve started professionally in 1965 and I worked with and
seen a lot of great catchers, and the great ones just have a different gear. Travis
is one of those guys,’’ Compton told The Post yesterday at the Carpenter
Complex, where Phillies’ minor league players train. “It’s like Usain Bolt; he can just run
faster than other people. It’s just there.

“I was with Johnny Bench when he was a young fella,’’ said Compton, the
Phillies field coordinator, “and Travis, when he’s off on another field and you
look over; physically, he walks and looks a lot like Johnny. His shoulders hang
like John’s; he’s got big hands like John, and the mannerisms. He’s got a lot
of tools and he is such a gifted hitter.’’

Jesus,
they compared him to Usain Bolt and Johnny Bench in the same story. Now, that’s
pressure.

Jose Reyes said that two days
before he was traded from the Marlins to the Blue Jays, Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria assured him he was not
going to be traded by the flush-it-down the drain Marlins. “Two days before the
trade, I was having dinner with him in New York,’’ Reyes explained. At that mid-November dinner, the Marlins owner
went so far as to tell Reyes to buy a house in Miami. “He was talking still
about getting a nice house in Miami,’’ the former Mets shortstop said. “That
was kind of crazy, how do you want me to spend my money in Miami when I have my
house in New York and you are going to trade me in two days? “Then I went on
vacation with my wife and I found out I was trade. I thought people were joking
but when I called my agent he said yes I was traded … I was shocked.

Are we talking
scumbag or what?

Couldn’t you at least cancel the dinner? This trade will
never be equaled in sheer arrogance by an owner. And the sad part about it is
there is nothing anyone can do about it.

Let’s remember this team was dismembered two other times
after getting to the World Series. It’s absolutely impossible to believe
anything that comes out of this guy’s blow hole.

I really feel sorry for Reyes and I still miss him. He will
always be a New York Met to me and we’ll never know what went wrong between
himself, Sandy Alderson, and
Fred Wilpon. This was an easily workable contract for a guy that could
still be at short while Ruben Tejada moves
over to second.

Kevin Burkhardt‏ - @KBurkhardtSNY

Terry Collins saying the Marlon Byrd, who arrived today,
can win the RF job without platooning. I also think Cowgill and Baxter will get
more and more consideration to lead off by TC, so platoons in RF and CF seem
logical

I seem to remember Terry Collins doing this same “so-and-so
can be a starter for this team” crap last year. I know it’s nice to say good
things about your players, but everybody can’t start and haven’t you already
said about eight other guys can start in the outfield?

TC reminds me of Vice President Joe Biden. There’s always just a little too much coming out of his
mouth during the pressers.

I’m not sure if many of you know this, but one of the
originators (and maybe the originator) of the platoon system was Casey Stengel.

(boy… the one thing missing on this site is a writer
telling old stories about old Mets…)

Mike Puma‏ - @NYPost_Mets

Alderson says he will make a decision Monday
regarding Santana and WBC. Santana says the Mets prefer he doesn't participate.

I
just can’t see any scenario that would say this was a good idea.

He’s coming
off an injury, he’s your ace for a run for the playoffs, or he’s trade bait at
the halfway point of the season. Pick one and there’s no reason to risk another
foot injury.

I
remember that game. I saw him land funny and I said to myself “take him out
now”. You let this guy go ‘home’ and he gets hurt playing funny baseball for
the WBC and you throw away any chance you have at either a pennant or another Zack Wheeler deal down the drain.

"Being sent down is probably one of the
lowest points that you can have. I think that you learn from that and you grow
from that, hopefully, and learn what you did [wrong] and what you can do to stay.
And hopefully, I did that. That first couple of days you're angry, saying, 'Why
am I here?' There's a clear-cut reason why you're here. You didn't play good
enough to be in the big leagues. I realized that and got it through my head. I
realized I wasn't playing well enough to stay there and tried to work to get
back. And I did, and I think hopefully this year I'll stay there.”

Didn’t
we just write last night about Duda having a lack of confidence? This paragraph
ended a lot better than it started and the first step in achieving anything is believing
in yourself. The scary part about the Mets outfield is Duda is the least of the
problems which exposes just how severe this is. I can’t remember a New York
team going into a season with this questionable level of talent in the
outfield. I’m sure some of you can and I welcome you to chime in here.

Reese Havens –

"I'm
going to have back problems. It's just, I've learned how to try to stay on top
of my back with doing core workouts and stretching and stuff. That's just what
I've got to do. I'm always optimistic coming in. Last year, I wasn't able to
work out like I did this year and I had some doubts about where my back was at
coming in. And I still know I'm going to have to stay on top of it. But just
the quality offseason training that I had makes me a little more confident this
year than in other years."

I didn’t realize that Havens was in camp already.

Sadly,
I have seen this before. His name was Shawn Bowman and
he was the original third base prospect before David Wright. Bowman also had a bad back; in fact, he ‘broke’ it twice
and, regardless of how well he continued to hit in the minors, he never could
stay 100% healthy.

Bad
backs are something that don’t go away. Mine was operated on 15 years ago which
means I have two stories to tell. One, I had pain for the 15 years prior to the
operation and, two, I have no flexibility for the 15 years after the operation.

I
wish Havens all the success in the world, but, it’s just a matter of time
before we write again about his back problems.

Mack, I think your take on the bullpen is spot on. Parnell, Edgin and Lyon are locks. (You didn't forget anyone.) Of the four vets, I think if Feliciano and Atchison are anywhere near their former selves, they are in. Hawkins and Laffey will be battling Hefner and Burke for the final 2 spots. My personal opinion is that Burke will win one of the places, Laffey falls out of the running, and it is a last minute decision for Alderson/Collins between Hawkins and Hefner. Flip a coin, but I'm rooting for Hef.